Wringer



' Febtzo, 1945.

' c. B. WILLIAMS WRINGER ATTORNEY Feb. 20, 1945.

c. B. WILLIAMS 2,369,699

WRINGER Filed Feb. 13 1939 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 1945 I WRINGER Charles B. Williams, Shaker Heights, Ohio, as-

signor to Automatic S afety wringer Company,

Cleveland, Ohio, a partnership composed of Charles B.-Williams, Horace B.

W. Williams Fay, and Charles Application February 13, 1939, Serial No. 256,110

'11 Claims.

This invention relates to wringers provided with a pair of bites and is more particularly diwringing pressure bite between two rolls and an auxiliary intake bite between other rolls.

Wringers provided with an intake bite and a wringing bite are well known and while, in their several forms, they operate satisfactorily it has heretofore been necessary to provide spring mechanism at the wringing i pressure bite and additional spring mechanism at the intake bite to grip clothes and feed them to the pressure bite. The provision of two sets of springs entailed considerable cost and increased the difliculties of manufacture of such a device I have found that I can provide a single spring and divide the components of its force to provide a controlled heavy pressure at the wringing bite and a controlled light pressure at the intake bite. I have also found that this action may be augmented by the resiliency of the rolls themselves, thuz providing several combinations of use. If the-rolls are very hard the spring alone applies he 1 requisite clothe holding pressure, while if the rolls are of normal resiliency the deformation in the rubber at the pressure roll bite will cooperate with the spring or act independently thereof, as the case may be, to provide a controlled clothes gripping pressure at the intake bite.

The general object of this invention therefore has been to provide a multiple bite wringer in which the application of a single external spring force to the rolls will simultaneously provide a heavy wringing pressure at one roll bite and a light clothes gripping pressure at the other roll bite.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing arid related ends, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims; the annexed drawings and the following description setting forth in detail certain mechanism embodying the invention, such disclosed means constituting, however, but one of various mechanical forms in which the principle of the invention may be used.

' In said annexed drawings:

Fig. l a broken section in a vertical longitudinal plane showing the working parts;

Fig. 2 is a section through Fig. 1 by the lines 2-2 thereon;

Figs. 3 and 4 are similar different operating conditions for the mechanism;

5 is a transverse section as indicated by the lines 5-4 of Fig. 1; and

as indicated rected to a wringer in which there is provided a to Fig. 2 but show- Fig. 6 is a schematic representation showing the manner in which I obtain the results of my invention.

Referring now to Fig. 1, I provide the usual wringer post ll! carrying a downwardly depending stub shaft l2 adapted to engage the wringer post of a washing machine. The ordinary wringer head, including reversing mechanism to reverse the direction of roll rotation and means to translate the direction of drive from the stub shaft [2 to the rolls is mounted within the casing l5 of the wringer. Since-such mechanism is well known in the art it is not further shown. Sufiice to say that by this means the rolls may be rotated in i either direction desired.

A frame I! is carried within the casing and supports a pair of lower rolls I8 and I9. These rolls are provided with shafts journaled at their ends, as shown in Fig. 5, in journal boxes 20. A wooden member 21 is interposed between each lower roll shaft and the associated journal of the journal box.

The lower rolls are mounted for yielding movement vertically of the frame and are limited in movement transverse of the frame. To effect the latter, flanges 22 are provided, the inner edges 23 of which engage the sides of respective journal boxes and prevent transverse shifting'thereof. A p i 0f l sprin s r p n the openings between flanges 22 and yieldingly support the journal boxes 20 and the rolls l8 and I9 when the wringer is in a non-operating position.

A third roller 25 is carried above the rollers l8 and I9 and is adapted to coact simultaneously with each to provide a pair of roll bites. In one position the bite between the rolls [9 and 25 is a light pressure intake bite and the bite between the rolls l8 and 25 is a heavy pressure wringing bite. This is the position in which the mechanism is shown in the engaged example and it will be apparent that the relative position of the two bites may be interchanged to permit feeding clothes to the wringer from the left-hand side.

To support the upper .roll a pair of uprights 21 are provided, which are connected with each other by a top 28. Slidably carried in each upright is a hanger 30. This hanger is normally drawn upwardly by the pressure spring mechanism of the wringer.

This pressure spring mechanism as shown in Fig. 1 comprises a leaf spring 32 secured at its mid-portion to a bracket 34 integral with the top 28, At its freeends the spring bears respectively against a pair of studs 35 which are threadinghr secured in a respective nut 31, fixedly carried as part of the hanger 30.

At the bottom of each hanger is an upstanding shoe 38 located centrally thereof and provided with an upper face 39 adapted to engage under rollers 40 (Fig. 5) carried by respective journal boxes 20.

The hanger anduprights are transversely positioned by the upper roll and its journal blocks 4| which respectively engage the shaft at oppothat when the hangers are shifted about the axis of roll 25' to the position shown in Fig. 4 the spring 32, by reason of the shoes 38, will tend to limit the movement away from each other of the rolls l8 and 25. By adjusting the mechanism as hereafter described, the shoes 38 will cooperate with the mechanism to urge alternately either lower roll against the roll 25 to provide a wringing pressure bite.- The screws may be rotated to take up any slack in the spring 32 and to firmly transfer the spring pressure to the hangers.

In the position shown in Fig. 2 there is no wringing pressure applied at either roll bite and in effect the lower rolls are free to be pushed downwardly, being held up only by the light coil springs 24, which may be easily manually stretched. As the top and upright assembly is swung to the position shown in Fig. 3 the surfaces of respective shoes 38 will ride under the rollers 40 adjacent the wringer roll 58 and force the rolls l8 and 25 into wringing relation with each other. A pressure sufiicient to establish wringing action normally results in a flattening at the point of contact at the rolls, as shown in Fig. 6. The rubber used informing the rolls as shown in this application should preferably be of a Shore durometer reading of about 45. Under the conditions just outlined there will be established clothes wringing pressure between the rolls i8 and 25.

I provide a light clothes ripping pressure between the rolls l9 and 25 simultaneously with the establishing of a wringing pressure between the rolls l8 and 25. The effect of this is to permit an operator to feed clothes to the light pressure bite which will grip them and feed them into the heavy pressure bite, which will then function to complete-the wringing operation. The first or light pressure bite has a definite wringing action on the clothes and by its use the material leaving the wringing bite is drier than is normally obtained in a corresponding wringing bite with the ordinary two-roll, wringer. I attribute this to the fact that the great body of free liquid is extracted at the light pressure bite and hence does not tend to feed into the wringing pressure bite between the folds of the clothes. The light pressure intake bite also affords a high degree of safety to the operator since the pressure at this bite is so small that the fingers of the operator, if caught therebetween, may be easily withdrawn and will not have been bruised or crushed.

To attain the light pressure intake bite desired I need no further mechanism than the spring 32 acting in conjunction with the two rolls l8 and 25, between which wringing pressure is applied, This is best shown in Fig. 6.. As shown in that figure, the axes of respective rollers 40 are positioned on a line along a. plane through the axes of the rolls l8 and I9 and between the roll axes. Thus, as shown in Fig. 6, when the upper roll possesses a diameter of about 2% inches and the lower rolls a diameter of about 2 inches each the axes of the rollers 40 are spaced inwardly between and 6% of an inch from the axis of the adjacent lower roll.

Since the shoes 38 tend to adjust themselves under the influence of the spring 32 to lie at the point of the rollers 40 farthest from the spring 32, the line of action of the spring will be along the line :c-a: (Fig. 6) which passes from the spring through the axes of the respective rollers 40. This line is spaced inwardly of line x-y, which is a line through the axes of the rolls l8 and 25 and the spring 32.

As a result of this eccentric application of the spring force there will be a component of that spring force active on each side of the central axis of the rollers 40, with which the shoes are engaged.

The force so applied against the journal boxes resillts in a tendency of the same to move upwardly, carrying with them the associated rolls i8 and I9, and this upward movement is of course prevented when these two lower rolls contact the roll 25. The major portion of the force of spring 32 is applied between rolls l8 and 25, due to the very short distance, as shown in Fig. 6, between the lines m- -:c and :r1 Thus these two roll are forced together and flattened at their point of contact 45. On the other hand, the distance between the axes of rollers 40 on the line :c-x and the roll I9 is so great that a very mall component of force from the spring urges the roll l9 against the roll 25. Depending upon the power of spring employed, it is possible with this arrangement to apply 'a satisfactory wringing pressure at the wringing rolls and yet limit the pressure between the rolls forming the intake bite to only a few pounds.

If it is desired to'maintain the rolls forming the intake bite slightly out of contact with each other for any reason the upward motion of the lower intake roll may be limited by'any suitable abutment carried in the wringer.

The force applied at the intake bite is not only, the component of the spring pressure applied through the spring 32, but is a component of the degree of the resiliency of the rubber resulting from the compression of the rubber at the point of contact 45. If the rolls of the wringer are very hard, and relatively unyielding the resiliency of the rubber will have no effect and the intake bite component will result wholly from the spring 32 with the axis of roll l8 as a fulcrum. On the other hand, at the other extreme, if the pressure rolls were extremely resilient, then the component to apply light pressure at the intake bite will result in great part from the flattening of the rolls at the contact 45, said resilient rolls creating a force acting about the contact between shoe 38 and roller Ml as a fulcrum. The mechanism described has been shown either in a neutral position or shifted to a position to feed clothes from the right to the left side of the wringer, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the latter figure showing the compression of the clothes at the respective bites. It will be apparent that if the top 28 and associated mechanism are swung to the opposite position of Figs. 3 and 4 the mechanism will be repositioned oppositely to the showing in Fig. ,6 and clothes may then be wrung through'the wringer from left to right with exactly the same light pressure bite and wringing pressure bite and the same sequence of bites as the clothes passed therethrough.

An additional feature of my improved wringer is that I provide mechanism by which the variation of intake pressure for different thicknesses of material may be controlled at will. In other words, by my invention I can so arrange my device that the pressure at the intake bite will remain constant for whatever thickness of clothes are passed therethrough. On the other hand, the mechanism may be so adapted that the pressure at the intake bite will either increase or decrease with the passage of an increasing thickness of matetrial therethrough. It is preferable to have the pressure decrease as clothes of increasing thickness are fed to the wringer. In other words, the maximum pressure at the intake bite is present when the rolls forming the intake bite are closest together and the minmum pressure at the 2. In a wringer, a frame, three rolls carried by said frame in position to establish a pair of roll bites; resilient pressure mechanism operative at one roll bite to apply wringing pressure thereto,

said wringing pressure rolls having suflicient r siliency to flatten out at said pressure bite under the force of said pressure mechanism, and means to apply the force resulting from said resilient roll deformation to apply relatively light clothes gripping pressure at the intake bite.

3. In a wringer, a main frame, a pair of rolls carried in said main frame, a sub-frame carried by said main frame and shiftable about anv axis parallel to and above the axes of said pair of rolls, a third roll, and a single means operative by shifting said 'subframe about its axis to simultaneously apply wringing pressure between said thirdroll and one of said pair of rolls and relatively lighter clothes gripping pressure less than intake bite is attained when the rolls are farthest apart.

The foregoing discussionis based on the assumption that the pressure rolls willseparate as material of increasing thickness is passed therebetween and this in turn will increase the effective pressure on the spring 32. In other words, the position of the axes of rollers 40 is determined by whether or not it is desirable to take advantage of such increase in pressure to increase the intake bite pressure, or whether it is desired to determine the intake bite pressure in spite of the thickness in wringing pressure.

To direct water wrung from the clothes away from the discharge side of the wringer a tiltable drainboard is provided. As shown in Figs. 1 and said wringing pressure between said third roll and the other of said pair of rolls.

4. In a wringer, a frame, three rolls in said frame with one roll coacting with the other two to provide a pair of roll bites, means to apply resilient pressure at one roll bite, one of the rolls at said one bite being of resilient construction to be compressed normally under said pressure and tending to move away from its coacting roll and means to transmit the force of said tendency to 4 this consists of a channel pivotally mounted below a drain opening 52 in the frame I! and adapted to be swung from one side to the other to discharge water as desired.

An upstanding arm'53, rigidly secured to the drainboard is at its top engaged by outstanding ears on the right hand upright 21 (Fig. 1). Thus as the uprights are swung in one direction or the other the drainboard is swung in an opposite manner to discharge water from the rolls at the feedside of the wringer.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have provided an improved mechanism by which an intake bite and a wringing pressure bite may be actuated to provide safety to the operator and to extract'moisture from clothes in two wringing operations. Furthermore, the mechanism may be' reversed to wring from either side of the device or may be shifted to a neutral position to release all wringing pressure from the rolls.

Other modes of applying the principle of m invention'may be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as re ards the mechanism hereindisclosed, provided the means stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such stated means be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and di ti t- 1y claim as my invention:

1. A wringer comprising a frame, a pair of rolls in said frame, a third roll on a fixed axis above and coacting with said pair of rolls to provide a pair of roll bites, a single spring mechanism carried in said frame above said rolls and mechanism to apply the major component of said spring mechanism to a roll at one roll bite and the minor component to a roll at the other r011 bite to provide a clothes wringing bite and a clothes intake bite.

separate into a force applied at the other roll bite to urge the rolls at the other roll bite together.

5. In a wringer, a frame, three rolls in said frame with one roll coacting with the other two to provide a pair of roll bites, means to applz; resilient wringing pressure at one roll bite, one of the rolls at said one bite being of resilient construction to be compressed under said pressure and normally tending to move away from its coacting roll and means to transmit the force of said tendency to separate into a force applied at the other roll bite to urge the rolls at the other roll bite together to provide an auxiliary light pressure intake bite to feed clothes to said wringing bite.

6. In a wringer, a frame, a roll carried by said frame, a pair of rolls in said frame adapted to coact with saidfirst roll to provide a pair of roll bites, a double journal at each'end of said rolls to maintain the same in fixed rotative'position relative to each other, a pair of rollers on each journal with their axes between the axes of said pair of rolls, spring mechanism and means to apply off center the force of said spring mechanism against said journals between the axes of said pair of rolls to apply the major component between one of said pair of rolls and the first roll and the minor component between the other of said pair of rolls and the first rollsto provide a heavy pressure bite and a light pressure bite respectively.

"I. In a wringer, a frame, a member shiftably mounted in saidjrame and manually operable adjacent the upper portion of said frame, a roll i'otatably carried in said frame, a pair of rolls adjacent said first roll, a single spring mechanism to apply resilient wringing pressure between one of said adjacent rolls and said first roll to provide wringing rolls and to simultaneously press the other adjacent roll against one of said wringing rolls to provide rolls for feeding material to said wringing rolls and a connection between said spring mechanism and said member to shift the pressure between another two of said rolls and to establish feeding pressui'e between one of said new wringing rolls and the third roll.

8. In a wringer, a frame, three rolls in said frame coactin'g to provide a pair of roll 'bites,

means to maintain two of said rolls at a first bite in position with respect to each other to provide a pair of clothes gripping rolls, one of said wringing rolls including a resilient portion to be compressed by its opposed roll and normally tending to move away from the opposed roll and means to transmit the tendency t move away into a force applied at the second rollbite to urge the rolls-at the second roll bite together to provide a seco nd clothes gripping bite,

9. In a wringer, a main frame, jthreerolls car-1f ried by saidframewith two rolls coacting with the third roll to establish a pair of roll bites, a

' sub-frame pivotally mounted in said frame,

hangers slidably mounted on said sub-frame, pressure mechanism normally engaging said hangers, a member carried by each hanger and adapted to alternately engage at opposite ends of 1 one of said two rolls to establish a clothes gripping bite between said one roll and either of said two rolls as desired and means operatively con-' trolled by said pressure mechanism to simultaneously establish a second clothes gripping bite between one of said bite rolls and the remaining roll.

10. In a wringer, a main frame, three rolls carried by said frame with two rolls coasting with the third roll to establish a pair of roll bites,a

sub-frame pivotally mounted in said main frame,

hangers slidably mounted on said sub-frame, a leaf spring carried by said sub frame and engaging said hangers, a member carried by each hanger and adapted to alternately engage at opposite ends of one of said two rolls to establish a clothes gripping bite between said one roll and the third roll, and means operatively controlled by said pressure mechanism t simultaneously establish a second clothes gripping bite between one of said bite rolls and the remaining roll.

11. In awringer, a main frame, asub-frame ipivotally carriedthereby, a pair of rolls carried by said main frame, a third roll adapted to simuitaneously coact with said pair of rolls to establish a pair of clothes gripping roll bites, said sub frame compris' ig a pair of uprights, a hollow top member-joining said uprights, a hanger carried by respective uprights and adapted to engage opposite ends of said lower rolls alternately to re= strain the said roll' engaged against movement 

